LegalFree tool
Terms of Service for Your SaaS or App
Terms of service written from how your product really works, with only the sections you need and the wording users click to accept.
Free to start · Opens in your River workspace, ready to edit and share
How to write terms of service for a SaaS or app
Terms of service are the contract between your company and the people who use your product. Good terms for a SaaS product or app say who may use it and how billing, renewal, refunds and cancellation work. They cover what users may upload, the limits of your liability, and how disputes get settled. They also match how the product really works, and users accept them with a click before they start.
Those last two points decide whether the terms protect you. Terms nobody clicked to accept may bind no one, and a refund promise your billing breaks can be held against you.
Decide who you're writing for
Start with who signs up. Companies buying software can accept a standard business form. People using an app for themselves are consumers, and consumer protection laws add rules, especially for subscriptions. If both sign up, write consumer terms.
For business customers, skip the blank page. Common Paper, a contract software company, publishes free click-through Terms of Service1 that anyone may use and modify. They're built on its cloud service agreement, drafted by a committee of dozens of attorneys. Common Paper is candid that for a consumer product, its form "probably isn't what you need."
Using the form is mostly filling in blanks. The SaaS terms of service form asks for your fees, subscription period, governing law and liability cap. It adopts Common Paper's standard terms by reference, so link to them. Customers who negotiate can sign the cloud service agreement instead, which then takes priority.
What to put in your terms of service
Most SaaS and app terms need these sections. Skip any that don't apply, and write each from your own product.
The sections most terms of service need
| Section | What it settles | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Accounts | Who may sign up, the minimum age, and login security | "You must be 18 or older to create an account." |
| Plans and billing | Prices, renewal, refunds, price changes and cancellation | "Plans renew monthly until you cancel in Settings." |
| Acceptable use | What users may not do, and what happens if they do | No spam, scraping, malware or reselling access |
| User content | Who owns uploads, and the license you need to run the service | "You own your files and let us host them to run the service." |
| AI features | That output can be wrong, who owns it, and whether user content trains models | "We don't train AI models on your content." |
| Ending an account | When either side can close it, and how users get data out | "You can export your data for 30 days after you cancel." |
| Liability | What you don't promise, and a cap on what you could owe | "Our liability is capped at what you paid in the last 12 months." |
| Disputes and changes | Which law and courts apply, and how you'll announce new terms | "Delaware law applies. We'll email you before material changes." |
The liability example mirrors the default cap in Common Paper's business form.
Match billing terms to your checkout
Write the billing section with your checkout and billing settings open, and change them together. In the US, the federal Restore Online Shoppers' Confidence Act2 covers subscriptions sold to consumers online. You must clearly disclose all material terms before taking billing details, get express informed consent before charging, and offer a simple way to stop recurring charges.
California's automatic renewal law3 adds more for consumers there, and other states have their own rules. In California you must:
- Show the renewal terms next to the consent request, and get affirmative consent before charging
- Send an acknowledgment of the terms that explains how to cancel
- Let people who signed up online cancel online, with a prominent link or button or a prewritten cancellation email
- Give 7 to 30 days' notice of a price change, with how to cancel
- Remind customers on plans of a year or more 15 to 45 days before renewal
- Keep proof of consent for three years, or a year after the contract ends if longer
Make five details read the same in your terms and at checkout: the price, billing period, renewal date, refund rule and where to cancel. The small business terms of service template includes a register for checking each clause against what you actually do.
Handle what users upload
If users upload files, post content or type prompts, say who owns that material. Take only the license you need to run the service, such as hosting and displaying it. A license to use uploads for any purpose worries customers and gives you nothing the product needs.
Whatever your terms say about AI features, including whether user content trains your models, your privacy policy should say the same.
Hosting uploads also brings copyright complaints. In the US, a service that wants the DMCA's safe harbor must designate an agent to receive takedown notices. List the agent on your website and register it with the Copyright Office for $6. The registration expires after three years unless you renew it4, and letting it lapse puts the safe harbor at risk.
Choose how disputes get settled
Name the law that governs the terms and where claims are heard, usually your home state. Then decide on arbitration, which sends disputes to a private arbitrator instead of a court, often with a waiver of class actions.
Arbitration cuts both ways. If your clause names the American Arbitration Association, a consumer pays at most $225 for a case. The business pays the rest of the fees and all of the arbitrator's pay5. The association treats 25 or more similar claims from the same or coordinated lawyers as a mass arbitration, and the business's share adds up quickly.
If you use arbitration with consumers, put a plain notice at the top of the terms. Offer an opt-out window, such as 30 days, and keep small claims court available.
Get a clear yes at sign-up
Terms bind only people who agreed to them. Courts are reluctant to enforce terms posted behind a link at the bottom of the screen, because users often don't know they exist. In 2022, a federal appeals court spelled out the test in Berman v. Freedom Financial Network6.
Unless a user actually knew of the terms, they bind only if the site gave reasonably conspicuous notice of them. The user must also take an action, such as clicking a button or checking a box, that unambiguously shows agreement.
On the page: "I understand and agree to the Terms & Conditions which includes mandatory arbitration and Privacy Policy."
The court's suggested fix: "By clicking the Continue >> button, you agree to the Terms & Conditions."
- Say what the click means. Nothing told users that pressing the large green "continue" button meant agreeing.
- Make links look like links. The links were the same gray as the rest of the sentence, not blue like a typical link.
- Make it readable. The notice was in tiny gray type, smaller than everything around it.
When you update the terms, date the new version and email users before material changes take effect. Ask for a fresh click when a change matters, such as adding arbitration. FTC staff warned in 2024 that announcing new uses of customer data, like AI training, only in a quiet, retroactive change to your terms7 may be unfair or deceptive.
When to involve a lawyer
This guide covers common US rules and isn't legal advice. Have a lawyer review your terms before launch if you sell to consumers in Europe or the UK, serve children, handle health or financial data, or want arbitration.
Before you publish your terms of service
- Prices, renewal, refunds and cancellation match your checkout
- Sign-up says that clicking or ticking means agreeing
- The terms link is readable and looks like a link
- You record who accepted which version, and when
- Your copyright agent is registered, if users upload content
For a faster start, the tool at the top of this page drafts terms from your product description and writes the sign-up wording. Write the privacy policy from the same facts, so the two agree.
How it works
Start with a few lines on what your product does, who signs up and how they pay, and attach your current terms if you have them. For software sold only to businesses, River fills in Common Paper's click-through terms. If consumers sign up, it writes new terms around your sign-up, billing, uploads and cancellation, with only the sections you need.
Where a fact is missing, River states its assumption or marks the gap for you to confirm, rather than inventing a refund period or a feature. Its reply gives the exact sign-up wording, what your checkout must show for automatic renewals, and any parts of your old terms it cut because they didn't fit.
Describe your product
Say what it does, who signs up and how they pay. Attach your current terms if you have them.
River picks the base
Common Paper's click-through terms for business customers, or new terms written around a consumer app.
Get your terms
Terms in your workspace with only the sections you need, plus the sign-up wording and checkout notes.
Confirm and adjust
Fill in anything marked to confirm, then ask River to add arbitration or change the governing law.
What you get
- Common Paper's click-through terms filled in for business customers, or new terms written for consumers
- Only the sections your product needs, from plans and refunds to user uploads and AI features
- Renewal, price change, refund and cancellation terms written to match the billing facts you give
- The exact checkbox or button wording for sign-up, so users clearly agree before they start
- Arbitration only when you want it, with an opt-out, a small claims exception and the trade-offs explained
- A reply listing every assumption and fact to confirm, plus anything cut from your old terms
Common questions
Do I need terms of service for my app or website?
In practice, yes, once you charge people, host what they upload or want to limit what you could owe. Terms set your refund and cancellation rules, let you close accounts that break them, and cap your liability. Any subscription product should have terms that users accept at sign-up, not just a link in the footer.
Can I copy another company's terms of service?
It's risky. Copied terms describe someone else's product, so they can promise refunds, features or data practices that aren't true of yours, and those promises can be held against you. The wording is usually copyrighted, too. Start from a free standard form, such as Common Paper's for business software, or write from your own billing and product facts.
Are clickwrap terms of service enforceable?
Usually, when users see a clear notice and take an action that plainly means yes. That can be ticking an unchecked box, or clicking a button beside a sentence saying the click means agreement. US courts look closely at how the sign-up screen was designed, so keep a dated copy of it and a record of each acceptance.
Should my terms of service include arbitration?
Only after weighing the cost. Arbitration with a class action waiver can keep disputes out of court. But the business usually pays most of each case's fees, so many similar claims filed at once can get expensive. If you include it, add a clear notice, an opt-out window and a small claims exception, and make sure users actually agreed.
How do I write terms of service with River?
Type what your product does, who signs up and how they pay in the box at the top of this page, and attach any terms you have now. River fills in Common Paper's form for business customers or writes consumer terms. It marks anything it couldn't confirm, writes the terms into your free River workspace and gives the sign-up wording in its reply.
Is this legal advice?
No. River drafts terms from the facts you give, explains its choices and marks what it couldn't confirm. It doesn't give legal advice or promise that a court will enforce the result. Before launch, get a lawyer's review if you serve children, handle health or financial data, or sell to consumers in Europe or the UK.
Is the terms of service generator free?
Yes, it is free to start. Your terms of service open in a River workspace, where you can edit them, share them with your team or ask River to change them. Paid plans add more AI use and access to the most advanced models.
Sources
Common Paper. “Free Standard Terms of Service.” commonpaper.com (opens in a new tab)
Cornell Law School. “15 U.S. Code § 8403 — Negative option marketing on the Internet.” law.cornell.edu (opens in a new tab)
California Legislative Information. “California Code, BPC 17602.” leginfo.legislature.ca.gov (opens in a new tab)
U.S. Copyright Office. “DMCA Directory FAQs.” copyright.gov (opens in a new tab)
American Arbitration Association. “Consumer Arbitration and Mediation Services.” adr.org (opens in a new tab)
U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. “Berman v. Freedom Financial Network: Opinion.” cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov (opens in a new tab)
FTC. “AI (and other) Companies: Quietly Changing Your Terms of Service Could Be Unfair or Deceptive.” ftc.gov (opens in a new tab)
Built by
Chandler Supple
Co-founder & CEO, River
Chandler has spent the last six years working in AI, building tools for millions of users and Fortune 100 companies. In 2025, he co-founded River to build a new kind of operating system for AI agents.